Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
discrimination
discriminator
discriminatory
discursive
discus
discuss
discussant
discussion
disdain
disease
diseconomy
disembark
disembarrass
disembodied
disembody
disembowel
disembroil
Click to move down the list of words
Print Preview
See pronunciation key
Search for "disdain" in all of MSN Encarta
E-mail this entry
Blog about this entry on MSN Spaces
Download the MSN Encarta Right-Click Dictionary

disdain

dis·dain [ diss dáyn ]


noun 
Definition:
 
intense scorn: extreme contempt or disgust for something or somebody



transitive verb  (past and past participle dis·dained, present participle dis·dain·ing, 3rd person present singular dis·dains)
Definition:
 
look down on somebody or something: to regard somebody or something as not worthy of respect

[14th century. Probably < Old French desdeignier "treat as unworthy" < late Latin dedignare< dignare "treat as worthy"]

dis·dain·ful adjective
dis·dain·ful·ly adverb
dis·dain·ful·ness noun
Advertisement

Also on Encarta
Englishtown: Learn English online
Our Partners
Also on MSN
Encarta Message Boards (© Rubberball/Jupiterimages)
MSN Shopping
Encarta RSS Feeds
© 2008 Microsoft